Comprehensive diagnostic bronchoscopy of central type early stage lung cancer.

Due to advances in interventional bronchoscopy, curative treatment has become possible for central type lung cancer if it is detected in the early stage. However, expertise is required to diagnose the extent of tumor invasion and the depth of tumor involvement by conventional white light bronchoscopy alone, but judgement is still subjective. The development of autofluorescence bronchoscopy (AFB) and endobronchial ultrasonography (EBUS) has had a large impact on diagnostic bronchoscopy in the past decade and have been employed especially for the diagnosis of central type tumors. Objective evaluation by a comprehensive approach using AFB, EBUS and optical coherence tomography (OCT) enables selection of the optimal therapeutic strategy for central type early lung cancer (CELC).